A Pentecostal perspective

Rev. Dr Opoku Onyinah

The Rev. Dr Opoku Onyinah, rector of Pentecost University College in Accra, is a conference advisor. He has become a leading contributor to consultations on healing from Accra to London to Santiago, Chile. An executive council member of the Church of Pentecost, he is familiar with his Ghana-based church's missionary outreach in 54 nations. Last month, he conducted training for leaders of his church in Italy. "I have been a pastor for 29 years," he says, "and I have served as an 'apostle of the church' - one who plants congregations, trains local leadership and sends out church members to pray for healing and the coming of the Holy Spirit. In this conference, I am able to share my experience as a minister, a missionary and an educator."

His church is the second-largest in Ghana; only the Catholic Church has more members. The Pentecostal Council of Ghana often cooperates with the more broadly ecumenical Christian Council of Ghana. The Church of Pentecost belongs to both councils. Dr Onyinah has been impressed by the mission conference. "It brings together many different Christian traditions and allows us to compare views, and this is done fairly. If Pentecostals were in charge, we would have gone a little farther. We would call people forward, and pray for their healing. Spiritual healing is essential, even when a person is beyond cure. But sometimes healing also leads to curing, and that is a wonderful thing!"